Mouthpiece for reed instruments



Patented Jan. 30, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOUTHPIECE FOR REED INSTRUMENTS Mario Maccaferri, New York, N.. Y.-

Application March 23, 1943, Serial No. 480,141

1 Claim.

This invention relates to mouthpieces for reed instruments, such as saxophones and clarinets.

The object of the invention is to provide a mouthpiece in which the vibrations, the alternate compressions and rarefactions, created by the breath of the player acting upon the reed disposed upon the mouthpiece, move through the mouthpiece in such a manner that the fundamental tone with any harmonic partials is not destroyed or changed by the super-imposition of non-harmonic partials, likely to produce tone distortions and dissonances foreign to the characterof the instrument.

The invention consists of a mouthpiece for reed instruments having a med contacting and holding portion at one end and a tube connecting portion at the other end thereof, and having an interior channel from end to end, forming one tone column channel with highly polished smooth surfaces, free from corners or shoulders or dents or crevices and of substantially the same crosssectional configuration throughout, and in its modified form, being onlyslightly larger at said tube ends.

The tip end of the mouthpiece opposed to the tip end of the reed when applied has its interior surface convexly curved and a line extended from the upper interior wall of the interior channel passes substantially in the center of the space between the tip end of the applied reed and the convexly curved tip of the-mouthpiece.

The invention will be more fully described hereinafter, embodiments thereof shown in the drawing, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing- Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal section of the improved mouthpiece, for a reed instrument;

Fig. 2 is a plan View thereof;

Fig. 3 is a side View thereof; I

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section taken on line 4--4 of Fig. 3;

Figs. 5 and 6 are transverse sections taken on lines 5-5 and 66 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. '7 is a view diagrammatically showing longitudinal vibrations.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 6, an embodiment of the invention is there shown.

The body portion (5 of the mouthpiece is divid'ed' into two parts, the reed end l5 and the tube end H. The known reed of cane or of plastic, or other suitable material, is applied to the reed end by means well known, not illustrated in the drawing. The reed 9 is shown in dotted lines. The tube of the saxophone or other musical instrument also is well known and forms no part of this invention. The tube of the instrument encloses the reduced tube end I! of the mouthpiece, the end of the tube abutting against the exterior shoulder l8 of the mouthpiece.

The circular configuration of the interior of the reed portion 16 is substantially exactly the same as that in the tube portion I! of the mouthpiece. The surface 20 is parallel with the surface 2| so that the line 6-6 in Figure 1 presents a cross-section which is substantially equal to every other cross-section. The curvatures 23 and 24 are concentric with each other, and without corners or shoulders merge into the other surfaces, as 20 and 2| for instance. The surface 20 is convexly curved to the channel. The straight or conical surfaces 25 and 26 preferably taper outwardly slightly, such as results from the dimensions .622 to .630 inch as diameters. Thus, in this form the tube portion I! has a slight conical flare such as for instance results from a .622 inch diameter of curvature to a .630 inch diameter of a curvature. The flow of the vibrations at the tube end is at right angles to the elongated opening at 35 or in horizontal dispersion in relation to the larger vertical diam eter 36. The tip end 21 has its interior surface 28 curved as shown, convex to the reedsurface. The reed 30 allows for a little gap between it and tip 21. The surfaces 3|. and 32 of Figure 4 are parallel with. each other. Thus substantially one air column is formed from the reed end to the tube end. As seen from the drawing, Figure l, a line extended from the upper wall 23 of the interior channel passes between the convexly curved tip end of the mouthpiece and tip end of the applied reed. This curved portion acts to receive the breath of the player as a focus point and. sets the reed into vibration, at its tipportion. The. alternate compressions and rarefications then are guided through the channel formed by wall 2| and by the channel formed by walls 23 and 24 and walls 25 and 26. The interior of the mouthpiece from reed to tube is highly polished and free from crevices, dents,

shoulders, obstructions, etc. The junction between these two portions IB and I1 is smooth and unbroken. The objective is that eddy current formation is prevented. While the reed portion must necessarily be at an angle to the tube portion, the angle is large, namely, 162. In other words, the line of the inner wall of the reed portion to the axis is 18. In one embodiment the length is 3.40 inches having the foregoing dimensions. In another it is 3.95 inches in length, with interior diameters of .622 to .670 inch, and with the reed and tube portions at an angle of about 163. In still another embodiment, the bore dimensions are .588 to .596 inch, with a length of 3.52 and an angle of 24. The flow or current of vibrations entering the reed portion continues without interruption to the exit end of the tube portion, without diminution or enlargement; also without refraction or reflection of the waves, and little absorption due to the highly polished surfaces. Though at an angle to each other as they necessarily must be, the portions act to form one single tone or air column so that the'nodal point determines the character of the wave formation from end to end of the mouthpiece, both for the fundamental and for the partial vibrations.

Such reed mouthpieces act also under the prini ciples of edge tone vibrations, and these are combined with the reed tone vibrations, and by having a continuous flow cross-section without dents, crevices, etc., there are no detrimental super tones or overtones produced.

The angular relationship in respect to the dimensions stated enables the sound waves to bypass without the formation of eddies, and to have the angular passageway act substantially as one single open-ended tone or air column of straight form with the nodes between and not at the ends of the mouthpiece channel. The angle of 163, plus-minus, is such as to prevent reflection of waves or uneven distribution. There is an ab sence of interference.

The material used in the improved mouthpieces U is such as to absorb very little sound, particularly due to the high polish given to the interior surfaces, and its continuous interior air passage is so highly polished that no resistance to the oscillating movement of air particles in vibration is presented. There are no cracks, crevices, dents, juncture lines, etc. to absorb sound vibrations.

The wave length of the tone may be determined by multiplying the length of the stopper pipe by 4. The wave length multiplied by the frequency will give the velocity of sound in the medium. Knowing the velocity of sound, the length of the pipe may be determined to produce a certain pitch. The mouthpiece dimensions have been determined in respect to these rules, and in relation to a, tube with stops.

Any edge tones, with their eddies, form standing wave conditions and the air-column acts as a resonator to re-enforce through its standing waves the feeble edge tones. The tone is generated by the edge but resonated by the air-column. By the construction described the eifect of the air-column is so strong that it will force its natural frequency on the weak edge tone while being very little affected by the natural frequency of the edge tone.

In the reed tones, the air is periodically interrupted at the frequency of the reed. Considered as an open pipe, loops form at both ends, and a node is produced in the middle, or multiple nodes between the open ends. The air-column in the open pipe may be likened to a steel barclamped at its mid-point and vibrating longitudinally. Compression and rarefaction travel inward from the ends, meet, and are reflected at the central node, as shown diagrammatically in Figure '7, in which a metal rod 50 is supported at its central point 5| by a pedestal 52. The double headed arrows 53 are longer at the ends indicate in magnified form the relative amount of longitudinal vibrations. The rod 50 is held at its nodal point bythe pedestal 5|. As a result of the super-position of direct and reflected waves, the two ends are alternately slightly shortened and lengthened. If upper partials are produced, additional nodes form, The open pipe, whether it be conical or cylindrical, can produce a tone containing even and odd numbered partials. Should the saxophone or other reed instrument be regarded as a closed pipe, closed by the lips and the relatively stiff cane reed, then closed pipe actions prevail. The conical character of the saxophone enables it to produce the full harmonic series. As to the closed end just referred to, it must be noted that the chink between the reed and mouthpiece never shuts completely.

The diameter of the improved mouthpiece is comparable to the length of the vibrating aircolumn and this tends to purify the tone more and more the higher the pitch produced. Since at loop points the air particles move back and forth slightly, and there is no motion at the nodes, a very deep dent in the wall of a smallscaled pipe has the eifect of slowing down (flatting) the pitch of whatever fundamentals have loops at that point, and not having this effect on those having nodes at the dent point. Such a dent in the wall also tends to distort the harmonic series of many or all of the tones producible, with corresponding variations in relative strength in the case of a steady state vibration. By smoothing the interior surface of the mouthpiece and omitting pockets, obstructions, shoulders, sharp corners, etc., and highly polishing the surfaces, as before described, these objections have been overcome by this improved mouthpiece. The tone quality of a channel without dents or obstructions is unaltered because the crosssection of the mouthpiece is substantially the same throughout, the surfaces highly polished and the surfaces made free from obstructions.

It is therefore seen that the invention emphasizes the importance of a smooth inte1'ior,-without obstructions and without pockets and without dents, and that the Vibrations are set into operations in the mouthpiece without distorting the harmonic series, but to produce steady state vibrations in the mouthpiece which will be amplified or resonated in the tube or pipe of the musical instrument to which the mouthpiece is attached.

The relationship of curved mouthpiece tip and tip of the reed in line With the wall 24, also aid in the desired tone productions, as also the curved wall 20.

I have described several forms of my invention, but obviously various changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as set out in the following claim.

What I claim is:

In a mouthpiece for reed instruments, having a body portion with an interior cornerless channel, the reed end being shaped to receive a reed, and having an inlet opening longitudinally elongated, and the tube end being shaped to connect with the tube of the musical instrument to which the mouthpiece is to be applied and having an outlet opening, the combination of the reed end and tube end angularly disposed to each other at an angle of about 163", plus or minus, and having a highly polished smooth interior channel with a surface free from crevices, dents or shoulders and of substantially uniform crosssectional area from the reed end to the tube end, the reed end of the mouthpiece having at its interior a longitudinally disposed convex surface opposed to the tip end of the reed, and convex curved surfaces laterally of the mouthpiece extending from its tip inwardly about half the distance of the length of the opening, the line 

